This book discusses the mishu (staff member, secretary) system and the operation of the Chinese Communist Party between 1921 and 2022, focusing on the system’s impact on high-level politics and decision-making during four key periods. Starting with the Revolutionary War (1921–1945), it moves to the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1950–1966), the period of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), and finally the period of reform and opening up, bringing the history to the present day (1976–2022). This is the first systematic analysis of the mishu system, offering new insights on the history of the CCP and modern China.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. The Inner Court, Bureaucracy, and Elites
- 2. Military Mobilization and the Development of the Mishu System
- 3. Socialist Construction and Developing Conflicts
- 4. The Cultural Revolution, Political Intrigue, and Purges
- 5. The Invisible Hand Promoting Reform and Opening Up
- Conclusion
- Bibliography (Selected)
- Index
- Figures and Tables
- Figures
- Figure 1.1: The areas of Zhongnanhai occupied by the Central Party/Government in the Mao era.
- Figure 1.2: Structure of the CCP’s Mishu system at the central level.
- Figure 1.3: Offices and bureaus of the Central Office and the work of their clerks.
- Figure 2.1: Coded form for recording party membership statistics. Source: Fei Yundong and Pan Heding, Zhonggong wenshu dang’an gongzuo jianshi, p. 14.
- Figure 2.2: The structure of the Central Secretariat in 1927. Source: Fei Yundong and Pan Heding, Zhonggong wenshu dangan gongzuo jianshi, p. 63.
- Figure 2.3: The CCP’s network of secret transportation routes, circa 1930. Source: Xu Ruixin 徐瑞新, Li Xin 李欣, and Li Dengzhu 李登柱, Zhongguo xiandai mishugongzuo jichu [中国现代秘书工作基础, Basis of mishu work in modern China] (Beijing: Higher Education Press, 1989),
- Figure 2.4: Supplies being carried to the army via a secret transportation route. Source: Yuan Jing 袁静, Mimijiaotong xian [秘密交通线, Secret transportation line] (Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Art Publishing House, 1983), p. 190.
- Figure 2.5: One method of ensuring the secrecy of party documents. Source: Chen Xiaomei 陈小枚, “Teshu shiqi de mixiewenjian he weizhuangkanwu” [特殊时期的密写文件和伪装刊物, Secret and camouflaged publications during the special period], Dang de wenxian [党的文献, Party Lite
- Figure 2.6: The structure of the Central Secretariat in 1941. Source: Li Xin李欣, Li Xin wenji: diyijuan [李欣文集: 第一卷, Collected works of Li Xin: Volume 1] (Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2008), pp. 220–221.
- Figure 2.7: Form on which cadres circled their names. Source: Li Xin and Fei Yundong, Zhongguo mishu fazhanshi, p. 101
- Figure 3.1 Mao Zedong’s “red phone”. Source: Shaoshan Mao Zedong tongzhi jinianguan [韶山毛泽东同志纪念馆, Comrade Mao Zedong Memorial Hall in Shaoshan], ed., Mao Zedong yiwu shidian [毛泽东遗物事典, Mao Zedong’s relics] (Beijing: Red Flag Press, 1996), p. 166.
- Figure 3.2: Yuying Primary School, 2002 Class Reunion. Source: Deng Liangming ed., Deng Diantao, Li Yuanfa tongzhi jiniance, p. 338.
- Figure 3.3: The cover of Mishu Work, published in 1985.
- Figure 4.1: The central authorities during the initial stage of the Cultural Revolution. Source: Yan Changgui 阎长贵and Wang Guangyu 王广宇, Diaoyutai yiwang: Jiang Qing suiyuan de zhengyan [钓鱼台忆往：江青随员的证言, Memories of Diaoyutai: The testimony of Jiang Qing’s at
- Figure 4.2: Article penned by a writing team under the pseudonym Xia Fanghao. Source: People’s Daily Online Database (1946–2022), accessed: August 24, 2022, http://data.people.com.cn/rmrb/20220824/1?code=2.
- Figure 4.3: Zhu De receiving Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Source: “Relie huanying Aodaliya guibin” [热烈欢迎澳大利亚贵宾A warm welcome to our Australian guests], Renmin huabao [人民画报, China Pictorial] 339 (September 1976), no page number.
- Figure 4.4: Article refuting the views of Yao Wenyuan, by Feng Lanrui et al. Source: People’s Daily Online Database (1946–2022), accessed September 12, 2022, http://data.people.com.cn/rmrb/20220824/1?code=2.
- Figure 5.1: The medical team from the Central Office in Tibet. Source: Wang Fan, “Wu jin Zhongnanhai de yiliao baojian zongguan,” p. 51.
- Figure 5.2: Kong Shaoxun removing Hu Jintao from the closing session of the Party Congress. Source: “Hu Jintao weihe turan bei qingli zhonggong ershida bimudahui xianchang” [胡锦涛为何突然“被请离” 中共二十大闭幕大会现场, Why Hu Jintao was suddenly “invited to leave” the closi
- Figure 5.3: Internal reference material on letters and visits produced by a local general office, November 25, 1980. Source: Purchased by the author from a second-hand bookstore in Beijing, October 6, 2019.
- Figure 5.4: The supervision and inspection process.
- Figure 5.5: Circulation list and instructions noted on an internal document. Source: Purchased from a second-hand bookstall near Renmin University of China, Beijing, June 7, 2012.
- Tables
- Table 1.1 Interaction between elites and how mishu influence politics.
- Table 1.2 Heads of the CCP’s central mishu system, 1926–2022
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